The Eurovision Song Contest

Can Engelbert Humperdinck free Azerbaijan?

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK, the 75-year old chosen by the BBC to represent Britain at the Eurovision song contest, is more famous for such hits as “After the Lovin'” than for political campaigning. But some activists hope that when he showcases his crooning in Baku in Azerbaijan on May 26th, the event will be made memorable for another reason. With some 120m people expected to tune in, they want to highlight the country's deteriorating human-rights record.

Azerbaijan's government is spending a great deal of money tarting up its capital for the contest. The contest will take place in the new Baku Crystal Hall, a gleaming 23,000-seat arena. But a new report from Human Rights Watch highlights the abuses that were committed along the way. Local authorities expropriated houses and evicted residents with scant regard for due process or the rights of homeowners.

One family woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of bulldozers. They made it out of the building in one piece, but lost many of their belongings. Police broke down a door to arrest another family; by the time of their release five hours later, little remained of their home.

President Ilham Aliev hopes the event will serve as a celebration of Azerbaijan as it celebrates 21 years of independence. His government has spent millions of dollars on a public-relations campaign to boost the country's standing. It is streamlining its unwieldy visa regime to encourage international visitors.

Indeed, Azerbaijan has come a long way since the dark days of the early 1990s, when the country fought a bitter war with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. True, 13-16% of the country's territory (depending on how you count) remains in Armenian control, the conflict remains frozen, and Azerbaijan hosts roughly 600,000 people displaced from their homes.

But huge oil revenues have led to a flurry of infrastructure and reconstruction projects. Social-welfare payments trebled between 2006 and 2010, and living standards have been boosted considerably as a result, according to the World Bank. Another new report, from the International Crisis Group, describes how this wealth has benefited some of the displaced—even though many more need help.

Yet all that has come at the expense of political freedom, as Amnesty International underlined two weeks ago. Mr Aliev, the group says, runs an authoritarian regime where opposition is not tolerated. Journalists routinely censor themselves; those who do not face violent retribution.

NGOs are subject to harassment; the judiciary does the executive's bidding. Police truncheons disbursed peaceful anti-government demonstrations in March and April last year. Azerbaijan's winning Eurovision song last year was, aptly, called “Running Scared”.

Eurovision organisers say they hope the event will help improve the situation. A group of local journalists have set up a website to cover the contest, with what they say will be an independent eye.

But as the government advertises its modernising credentials, spare a thought for 16 “prisoners of conscience” that Amnesty International says remain in prison following last year's demonstrations. Last week, the EU called on Azerbaijan to invite the Special Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for political prisoners, who has not been able to visit the country since 2009.

As Mr Humperdinck prepares to announce his entry for this year's contest, he could consider reprising his 1967 classic “Release Me”.

Just because this guy has a song that is entitled "Release Me" does not mean it should be used in Eurovision in order to target the Aliev government. In fact the song has nothing to do with political suppression, why this blogger connected one to another is inane and farfetched. He should listen to the lyrics of the song as well as learn Eurovision rules which states that, any song being entered which has been previously commercially released or broadcast in public before a certain date relative to the Contest in question is FORBIDDEN. Do your research before you write. Your concerns for the people of Azerbaijan is commendable but your suggestion as to what Mr. Humperdinck should do is completely off base. No wonder blogs have never been considered as real writing or journalism. The fact that the Economist is a part of this makes me want to consider reading them again. This is an example in itself.

I am a bit confused as to why the comments for this article morphed into a comparative analysis between Armenia and Azerbaijan? The author of this article is not saying Azerbaijan is better than Armenia nor is the author trying to make Azerbaijan look bad, therefore your weblinks, and opinions are beyond the jurisdiction of this article's main purpose--which is to briefly address Azerbaijan's preparation for Euro vision.

Dear commentators, you are entitled to your own opinions but not to your own facts, and fact is Aliev is an autocrat that has not made significant political-social reforms to better his country and has put the country's (failed) trajectory towards democracy into a chokehold. The country will never be like Europe and this contest is not likely to bring Europe and Azerbaijan closer together, thats just political disneyland talk. Lets face it, the singing competition is a joke and I bet none of you even have any of the artists' songs performing (or performed) from that show on your ipods.

My friends, Azerbaijan is located right at the corner of European platform, taking into account that the "end of Europe " is right in the middle of the Caspian Sea. If we consider that Vienna - London flight is 2.5 hours, Vienna - Baku is 3.5, so it is not as far as some of you think it is. Secondly Azerbaijan has only 20 years of independence, and within these years we have covered a huge distance, starting from the collapse of the USSR to wining the final vacancy of the UN Security Council, and it might be wrong to expect that Azerbaijan becomes a democracy like Austria or Swiss within short period of time, there are many problems but they are being solved. During the early 90th many mistakes were made by the people ruling Azerbaijan back then, surely correcting those mistakes might be painful, but its an operation that at the end will do good to the patient. Difficult geopolitical location of Azerbaijan should be taken into account, the country perfectly balances between countries like USA, Russia, Iran, Israel etc. Lets not forget to mention the damage that was brought by the armenian agression against Azerbaijan, I am sure that the European Song contest will be organized on the highest level possible, and another strong tie between Europe and Azerbaijan will be made, that will even further boost the process of integration in Europe and implementing lots of european concepts in the country, surely there are many many different things that Europe could learn from Azerbaijan as well, at least when we speak about economy, Azerbaijan is a country dependent on oil exports, but smart decisions made by government, helped Azerbaijan avoid what is happening in Europe right now. Peace to all of you.

This blog is an embarrassment to the Economist. Come on! This blog is NOT about the singer, its yet another way of pouring dirt on a country. A country which is making the most remarkable achievements (recognised by the intelligent part of this world's population)using the oil and gas money very wisely, restoring the infrastructure, diversifying economy (the world has lots to learn from Azerbaijan's experience), fighting corruption etc. etc. yes there are some limits to the freedom of speech in the country - but why not? The country is in no peace-no war ceasefire situation, under occupation - 20%, 1,000,000 (not 600,000) refugees (now country has money to house them properly and does so very successfully), threat of Islamism from Iran (shia) and Wahhabis while it's striving to remain secular and integrate with Europe (in the end of the day, Caucasus, Azeri's ancestors are also Europeans' ancestors, as per DNA research. As per DNA Caucasus population, including Azerbaijan is closer (and ancestral) to Europeans than Middle Easterners). And here I can see some double standards applied. if you want democracy to flourish, Europe has to pressure Armenia towards honouring the 4 UN resolutions adopted in 1991-1993 to leave the occupied lands! And then see how democracy will boom in our country! Till then, sandwiched between Iran, Russia, having aggressing neighbour Armenia (who have been ethnic cleansing and massacring Azeris with Russians' help from early 19 century, after Azerbaijan was split into 2 between Iran and Russia; until then there were no or only scattered groups of Armenians not only in Caucasus, Azerbaijan (including Karabakh and Nakhchivan) but also the ancient Azeri lands of Zangezur and Irevan given to Armenians by Russians from Azerbaijan to form a country of their own(present day Armenia) settling it with Armenians from Iran and Turkey)). In 20 years you want democracy that Europe have building for centuries? Azeris are naturally democratic. In 1918 it was the first country not only in Muslim world but one of the first in Europe that gave voting rights to women and declared full equal rights. Azerbaijan has lots for others to learn from. Despite the complex geopolitical location, we are still prospering, developing rapidly and wisely, sustainably, we are elected to UN Security Council, invited to G20 forums, showcase successfully in Davos Economic Forum, have double digit GDP growth, only 6 % unemployment, very mild inflation, string currency (1AZN-! EUR form many years now): the strongest economy in Caucasus, using oil money wisely (come see for yourselves). This article is a weak attempt of Armenians propaganda (we are used to is, we can sense it at distance). Those who believe, have been brainwashed by anti-Turk propaganda for many many years. Azeris and Turks are notorious for religious tolerance, and support for national minorities (why only Armenians have problems and all other minorities are fine?). Georgia is Christian, and sees Azerbaijan as its closest partner and ally! - part 1

''True, 13-16% of the country's territory (depending on how you count) remains in Armenian control...''

- in what country or planet does 2x2 equal to 5 or 3 ? Azerbaijan says there is no authority or settlements of Azerbaijani Turks in 20% of its land; but the economist knows better and claims it is 13-16%; please be sure the number, otherwise there is no point to claim the economist is a reliable and serious magazine.

- Since when the word ''control'' has become the synonym for ''occupation'' ? lets see the meanings of these two words:

so if you use the word ''control'', then you seem to intentionally avoid to imply any military background and attack, which makes you a sided journalist and magazine; cuz you ignore the reality, and instead represent the situation how you want.

''Mr Aliev, the group says, runs an authoritarian regime where opposition is not tolerated. ''...''NGOs are subject to harassment''...''Journalists routinely censor themselves''

As i know , there is such problems in Azerbaijan,and some of them are not acceptable and therefore should be solved; however, there is a big threat to Azerbaijan from Iran, as you know nearly half of the population in Iran of Azerbaijani Turks, so Iran often intervenes into Azerbaijan in many respects, especially uses The religion, and we should keep it in mind that there is another country that used to control Caucasus, and a few years ago intervened into another country in the region, leaving a part of that country separated; so Azerbaijan is not a Switzerland or Belgium, but Those countries are not in Caucausus.

I find it disgusting that Economist shams Azeerbaijan and its President Ilham Aliev when British companies like BP benefit enormously from the Azerbaijani oil contracts. If you love human rights that much then it would make more sense non to get oil contracts in the first place. Otherwise it does not look good at all – you get benefits and still feel moral superiority.

Regarding the expulsion of the people due to the construction of the eurovision hall. Well, first of all the government offered a compensation, some say it is a small one. But this is not a business of the Brits to criticize this decision look at yourselves. How many Muslim homes have the British destroyed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lybia? Anyone is offering any compensation at all?

Finally, I think the people of Azerbaijan deserve president like Ilham Aliev. He is a competent man to run this country.

"... 13-16% of the country's territory (depending on how you count)" - could somebody clarify how 16% comes into picture? The only sensible way I heard so far yields 13% number.

"...Azerbaijan hosts roughly 600,000 people displaced from their homes" - this includes Azeris fleeing Armenia proper, Karabakh (about 40K) and the security belt around it. Of course, 400K Armenians got "displaced from their homes", too. Just to add to the math.

In addition to having an abysmal human rights record and being hopelessly corrupt the Azeri government can be blamed for inciting pathological hatred towards Armenians among its population growing portion of which has never met any Armenian (see for example http://www.turkishweekly.net/news/131857/history-lessons-in-armenia-and-...). Designed as a ploy to distract the attention of the population from the epic corruption and misappropriation of the benefits from national resources - this creates a ticking time bomb and dooms the future of the region. Somehow the World chooses not to notice this...

I did not know that Azerbaijan is in Europe, if so Iran is in Europe too and looks like Azerbaijan will become EU member ahead of Turkey. But prior to this there must be a regime change with armed opposition?

Please not that putting anyone's name without his authority is a breach and he may sue some one. No, he cannot as he to me is a good singer and not politicians who tells fibs and take the cash without your permission or for that matter represent anyone except himself. . My words fly up, my thoughts remain below: Words without thoughts never to heaven go. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616) I thank you Firozali A.Mulla DBA

you are plain wrong... there are no massive demonstrations in Armenia like the recent one in Turkey under the slogans like "you are all Armenians, you are all bastards". I also suppose you didn't read the article I referenced - which shows the contrast between the way Armenians are described in Azeri schoolbooks vs the Azeris in Armenian ones. What made you blind to these arguments... might it be hatred?

What democracy are you talking about? Western democracy has visited Libya, Egypt and Iraq recently. I think you don’t have to talk about what is happening in these countries. Europe has not a right to impose its rights on Azerbaijan and order how it should live and develop. Why do you think that only the European model is the most correct and the best? Don’t you think about what is good for you is not acceptable by or good for others.

Tou are right to be confused. One has nothing to do with the other. This is not a well researched or well thought out blog. If you read my comment, it will somehow explain it. Now a lot of commentators as well has gone of the tangent in defence of one or the other. THE POINT IS THAT THIS BLOG DOES NOT MAKE SENSE,

Seems selective, doesn't it? Geographically, land west of the Urals and the Caspian mountains is Europe. This includes most of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Europe's borderline by the Urals then slithers around the Caspian, and then the Black sea. This geographical demarcation has some basis in science (Anatolia/Asia Minor does seem connected to Asian land mass as it bumps into Europe to form a large earthquake zone), but is mostly determined by man. Some would suggest the continental border was set this way to make sure Turkish, mostly moslem Anatolia would be left out of Europe. Whether a country or a culture is European is occasionally debated in these countries (Turkey, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan)as well. In my experience, Georgians and Turks are the least passionate in such debates. To Armenians, this issue of Europeanness seems to matter a lot, with a curiously obstinate minority among them arguing fiercely that they are a part of the Middle East or Asia.

Only those who are totally ignorant of what Azerbaijan really is, it's history, geopolitical issues and realities, it's balanced deiplomacy etc can talk like this! Why Western media think they know everyhting about Azerbaijan or with the littl they know they can write such rubbish about the country? Who gave them that right? This is not democracy - this is carefully claculated tactics of certain powers! Media in the West is not free - they prove it over and over again.

I think the purpose of this article is clear - it's not about the singer and his participation - it's about pouring dirt on the country. And surely there's been role of the Armenian diaspora and propaganda here. And if the author is so impartial, he should now cover Armenians shameful withdrawal from the contest (proving their agreement that efforts must be utilised to bridge gap between the two nations through peoples' diplomacy, commoner's contacts was totally insincere as this was a great opportunity to do this and Azerbaijan was ready - this is not the first time Armenians participate win international events in Azerbaijan so why refuse now?) then Economist should also make full coverage of corruption, criminal government, robbing diaspora, lack of democracy, "internal genocide of Armenian people" (Charles Aznavour, 2011). Then we can talk about impartial. By the way, Armenians used reason that they cannot go to Baku because Azeri sniper killer an Armenian soldier... Later it was found out as a result of the investigation in Armenia, he was killed by how own armenian comrade... This is how Armenia falsifies information left, right and centre... Shame really. And, people please read this by Lithvanians making a film about genocide of Azeris (in English) http://vestnikkavkaza.net/interviews/politics/23791.html